Employment and Academic Characteristics of Former Undergraduate Education Students.

Denton, Jon J.

Research studies on the academic ability of individuals recruited into teacher education have produced mixed findings; some studies have found that academically talented teachers tend to leave the classroom in greater numbers than less academically capable colleagues, while other findings have indicated that teaching attracts and retains those with low measured ability. A study sought to determine the employment patterns of former education students at Texas A & M University and to compare these employment patterns with their academic profiles. Research questions concerned: (1) academic ability of former education students who are teaching, measured in terms of their SAT scores and cumulative grade point ratios, compared to academic ability of former students who are not teaching; and (2) employment options former teacher education students exercise. Six hundred sixty-eight education and agriculture graduates comprised the study's population. Findings revealed that approximately 70 percent of the 668 individuals in this sample are thought to be teaching. Those employed as teachers earned higher grades as undergraduates and had slightly higher SAT scores than their counterparts who were not teaching. (JD)